Persian Empire, Achaemenids, Artaxerxes I or Darius II, Siglos

This silver siglos bears the typical image of the Achaemenid coins, the Persian Great King in Persian garments, with a serrated crown, a bow and a spear. Serving as pay for the Persian mercenaries in Asia Minor, these coins with their representation of the Great King were clearly means of propaganda. This is one of the major reasons why the depictions on the Persian imperial currency remained unchanged deep into the 4th century BC.
The coin's unusual form shows how the planchet was produced. The slight protuberance is the rest of the sprue needed to cast the planchet. Normally the sprues from the casting process were completely removed. In this case it was left perhaps because it was needed to keep the required weight of 5,5 grams per siglos.